Report: “Hard work” remains to get a deal done

When league and NFLPA* sources aren’t saying that a labor deal is or isn’t close, they’re talking about the “hard work” that remains.

One such source played the “hard work” card tonight with ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio, saying that “there is a lot of hard work to be done.”

As to whether a deal will be presented to the owners for approval on July 21, the source said, “I just don’t know.”

Either way, the parties have 200 million reasons to make it happen. As one owner told Paolantonio,”Everybody is trying to figure out how to open training camps within the next two weeks so we don’t lose a week of preseason. Nobody wants to lose $200 million.”

And therein lies the current problem, in our assessment. With each side assuming that the other side doesn’t want to blow its cut of $200 million, each side is assuming that the other side will blink on the remaining issues. It’s therefore now more important than ever that the respective leaders, Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, provide real leadership.

Everyone loses if a week of the preseason is lost; at this point, neither side should be trying to secure a win.

That’s it. I’ve had it.
I hope some players, GM’s, NFLPA, and owners read this comment.

If this thing is not settled by the owner’s meeting, I will not watch a single damn game this year. Not one. I’ve had it with you all. You’re all spoiled, arrogant, pathetic people who don’t give a rats ass about fans like me. If you cared at all, this thing would be done, but with each passing day it’s blatantly obvious that you don’t give a damn.

So go ahead and draw this thing out some more. I’m so over this. You’re so “close” to a deal, but you’re closer to losing thousands if not millions of fans because of your greed.

Real LEADERSHIP on the part of any of these dudes? Please, my nerves! If any of the parties involved in this fiasco had one iota of real leadership, this crap would have never to come to this! All the fans I’ve talked to this week are saying, “Tick, tock, tick, tock.” Either “get ‘er done” or they’re going to “move on.”

Send in a bunch of hot women and booze to tomorrow’s meetings. Let them all get hammered, hug each other, and be merry. Someone will eventually say “ah F it” and a deal will be done.

polishkingski says:Jul 13, 2011 11:41 PM

ok, ok…..i am a football junkie. the fact that i have a busted ankle is a reason why i am constantly checking pft but really the truth is i would be doing it any chance i had anyway. PLEASE MIKEY, PLEASE, just tell us when its over with. my wife is ready to kill me because i keep spending a part of my waking hours wasting time checking for an update. i am soooooooooooooo frustrated.

No football gives me more time to do yardwork on Sundays. Instead of SNF, I’ve got Dexter.

larrydavidstern says:Jul 13, 2011 11:57 PM

No matter when this deal gets done, I bet the ratings will be better than ever. People are jonesing for some football right now big time, especially with only baseball going on.

descendency says:Jul 13, 2011 11:59 PM

@pjofar77

If you make tough decisions without doing hard work, you don’t become a billionare.

johnny1979 says:Jul 14, 2011 12:00 AM

They can all go to hell as far as I’m concerned. Is looks real good to the fans when they scrape their hard earned money together to go to a game or pay for DIRECTV when the owners and players are trying to divide over 9 billion dollars in revenue!! Oh my heart bleeds for them…..

…what people seem to forget is….yeah, nobody wants to lose money…but sometimes it has to happen before something gets done….and to make a statement….i.e., a strike. Nobody that goes on strike wants to lose money, but they do so for the ultimate future payoff……..you can forget the preseason……not happening..my prediction, one preseason game will occur……..

Been reading this blog for a few years and this is my first post, I have my real name, no phoney name, and I travel the US for work, and I have to say – that @FF3431, that is the general concensus. It’s ruff, but that’s what I see and hear. I want this to be over, but NONE OF US KNOW. There are a ton of games being played.. Let’s hope the Hall of Fame Game gets played and we have a great year of football.. as maddening as this all seems..

These guys are sure banking on, “all will be forgiven” if they sign a deal by the 21st. Unbelievable!

bangyourhead4 says:Jul 14, 2011 12:35 AM

It’s been the same exact story every week. Hard work is what all of us fans have to do day in and day out. Talking and looking over paperwork is NOT!

lostsok says:Jul 14, 2011 12:46 AM

footballfanatic3431 says: “If this thing is not settled by the owner’s meeting, I will not watch a single damn game this year.”

Liar.

illusi0nz79 says:Jul 14, 2011 1:02 AM

To the owners and players:

I hope you lose money. All of you owners and players. I hope you lose a crapload of it. I hope you see how destructive your greed is.

Above all else I hope you realize in the end that without the fans you are nothing.

Show some respect for the people that are paying you.

Stop treating us all like morons that don’t realize that every time you say “we have to work hard” or “we are getting closer” or “we think we have made a good proposal” or whatever other bs one liner you have.. that it means anything other than that you like your proposal and don’t want to budge off of it.

Save your breath and hurry up and save your league before we find something else to do besides pay you.

if only they had met daily back in March, April, May and June because they would have had a deal done by now. they all wanted to wait until the deadline to “work hard”

schemefactory says:Jul 14, 2011 1:13 AM

10101110001010100101001001111100010010 is the code for ..holycrap, how many news stories. if i predict a positive or negative answer to the question “will the next nfl “news” be positive or negative?”, and divide by zero..PBPJBOOOM

The time to reach a handshake deal to easily save the entire pre-season was last week. Every day that goes by is more risk one game or more is cancelled.

Any deal is subject to approval by the district court. In addition, the owners will want the NFLPA to re-certify as a union and sign a CBA. That’s a week or two right there.

The parties are out of time.

The Hall of Fame game probably won’t be officially cancelled/postponed until after the owners meet next week. Lacking formal announcement of a deal by then guarantees the first week of pre-season is gone.

The NFL won’t push back the first week of the regular season due to the significance of the date, and rightly so. There’s no room in the calendar.

It’s really too bad, but I guess if the owners weren’t willing to cancel football for 2011, they wouldn’t have locked the players out in the first place. It seems like things are moving quickly in this direction.

trenaro says:Jul 14, 2011 1:30 AM

I have to agree with footballfanatic3431. I said from the start I would not give up on football over this. Having said that, I never thought It would go this far. Many have wrote on this site and others that the owners and players dont care about the fans. They do – for the money! Settle it fast, or lose fans.

They are already losing money with each day that passes by that a deal is not done. Just by reading comments on various sites you can see that with everyday that goes by a fan grows disenchanted with the NFL and loses interest and to be honest I am just about there. I am finding there is life with out football and I am ready to move on.

I’m 27. Pretty much made the COMPLETE transition to an NFL fan once I graduated college (’06.) I still will watch some college of course. But, it’s been all about the NFL for years.

I haven’t been this excited for COLLEGE FOOTBALL to start in a long time. The NCAA is foaming at the mouth with this lockout. I detest the bureaucratic NCAA. Yet, I’m glad to give them my business this year.

My point is…you guys (players AND owners) must be screwing the pooch pretty bad. Because, I have honestly starting tuning out of the NFL and tuning in to college football.

You know what everyone this is what we should do DONT GO TO GAMES DONT WATCH ON TV AND IF THEY ASK WHERES THE FANS SAY “THERES STILL ALOT OF HARD WORK TO BE DONE TILL WE COULD BE FANS AGAIN BUT WE ARE ALL WORKING HARD” these guys are a freakin joke!!!

If this thing is not settled by the owner’s meeting, I will not watch a single damn game this year. Not one. I’ve had it with you all. You’re all spoiled, arrogant, pathetic people who don’t give a rats ass about fans like me. If you cared at all, this thing would be done, but with each passing day it’s blatantly obvious that you don’t give a damn.

So go ahead and draw this thing out some more. I’m so over this. You’re so “close” to a deal, but you’re closer to losing thousands if not millions of fans because of your greed.”

*slow clap*

decaturstaley75 says:Jul 14, 2011 2:19 AM

At this point, season ticket holders should be hoping that preseason games ARE lost. It is always ridiculous to have to pay full price for these glorified practices. The lack of offseason activities and the fact that rosters will still be in the process of being assembled should make this years preseason games (if they occur) the worst products the league has offered in decades.

I’ve been more interested in the IFAF world cup of american football being held in Austria, than this on-again off-again lockout saga.

The group games are done and the medal games to be played.

sprinternest says:Jul 14, 2011 3:21 AM

” Little progress but hard work remains ”

Groundhog day.

ukdude7 says:Jul 14, 2011 3:28 AM

‘Everyone loses’….. Except the season ticket and Tampa based Bucs fans whose London game will be cancelled if talks go past 1st August. So there’s at least one winner.

bittersonicsfan says:Jul 14, 2011 4:30 AM

footballfanatic3431

I’m starting to feel the same way. We fans aren’t even close to being their concern. They use us only as leverage in their ridiculous comments to make the other side look bad. We are nothing more than dollars and pawns to these jackals. This stinks and we’re being taken advantage of. The saddest thing about all of this is come September, we’ll all be watching football, buying $8.00 beers, paying $30.00 for parking, paying god knows how much for tickets and filling the coffers so Drew Brees can finally afford to feed his poverty stricken family. They have us by the balls and they know it, we know it too. What separates us from them is we love the game and get nothing for it but good times and memories. They get millions, possibly billions and won’t even know we existed. We don’t matter to them. Scumbags.

sdboltaction says:Jul 14, 2011 4:34 AM

What I want to know is how they have been “close” for a couple weeks now (per some reported sources) and when they do manage to meet for 8+ hour days, what exactly goes on in that damn room? Is it like they kind of slowly and vaguely talk about some issues then decide, ‘hmm, well, okay… so uh y’all want to take a break?’. Play some angry birds for a few minutes, browse PFT for a while then decide to get back at it? (Or is that just my average work day?) I mean seriously, when you’re sitting there talking about “important stuff” end over end, how long and what the hell does it take to REALLY, ACTUALLY get through it to the point you’re on the same page?!? In the voice of Mr. Slave from South Park; Jesus Christ!

db105 says:Jul 14, 2011 5:11 AM

Take your time guys. We season ticket holders would love to get a refund on those worthless and overpriced preseason games.

Let’s just set the record straight. Regardless of anyone’s opinion of Roger Goodell, good, bad or indifferent, the Commissoner of the NFL does NOT have the authority to make a deal. He is an employee of the owners who serves at their pleasure – and only 2/3 of the owners can okay any deal.

dryheaveone says:Jul 14, 2011 6:25 AM

Coming soon to a newspaper near you:

TALKS BREAKOFF!
NONE SCHEDULED IN NEAR FUTURE!

eagleswin says:Jul 14, 2011 6:41 AM

Well at least you didn’t put it all on the owners to make whatever concessions the NFLPA want to save the preseason.

cjepp says:Jul 14, 2011 7:07 AM

Omg! This is getting stupid!!!

twitter:Chapman_Jamie says:Jul 14, 2011 7:10 AM

The best part about the lockout for the media types is that they can keep regurgitating the same articles over and over and over and over again.

hodag54501 says:Jul 14, 2011 7:20 AM

Leaking…very embarrassing if done in your pants.
Also a method used by both sides in the NFL Lockout negotiations to keep the fans at arm’s length.
I’m beginning to realize all the stuff being reported(‘we’re close” ad nauseum) to all of us is simply a way to keep the fans placated so we shutup.
It’s time to stop being quiet.
It’s time to start picketing in front of the NFL franchises to let them know the CUSTOMERS are damn sick of this.
It doesn’t matter which side you favor.
Both sides are playing the folks who provided them with $9 billion like we’re dolts.
I’m at the point where frustration has to reflect itself in action. Picketing in front of the NFL team headquarters—and the NFL offices–would send a message. We don’t need to organize, just show up. What does that prove?
As The Who sang, WE WON’T BE FOOLED AGAIN!

This focus on the possible loss of $200 million to the pie is a red herring. Its silly for PFT to spend so much time on it.

The obvious is neither side is going to give up $400 miliion or $201 million (what ever the number is) just to make sure the $200 million is part of the pie. Especially since each side only gets around 1/2 of it.

Just do the math, if its 48% – 52%. The owners feel what they are fighting for is worth more then $104 million, the players feel its worth more then $96 million. So there may be $200 million reasons to make it happen, to each side what the other wants is worth more then that.

When its what PFT calls a $9billion pie, do you really think $104 and $96 million makes a dent of difference? Obviously there are bigger motivations.

they are hurting the revenue pie with every passing day. if they think fans are just going to up and forget about this and increase or maintain the amount of income they spend on NFL related things these guys have lost their mind. they have done more damage to ” the shield” in one offseason than I ever thought was possible.

twitter:Chapman_Jamie says:Jul 14, 2011 8:07 AM

Is there an email, or some office phone number for both the NFLPA and the NFL headquarters where we as fans can actually call and let them know how we feel? I highly doubt they read our comments here or take them seriously but I bet if their phone lines rang off the hook like a slimy politician’s would they might get the point.

micronin127 says:Jul 14, 2011 8:14 AM

I just hope their parameters are lining up so that there is an obvious way to ‘split the difference’. Meeting in the middle at the stroke of midnight is the best we can hope for at this point… I just don’t know when the deadline is… midnight on Thursday 7/20 just in time for an owner’s vote the following day??

Until then, only bad things can happen, like the talks break down and one side leaves. As long as they are still talking and they fly out to Minnesota to meet in Judge Boylan’s chamber on 7/19, we can hope that they will decide to split the difference.

They need to take this to the wire so that there is no appearance that either side caved in. Everything up until then is just biding time.

Putting the word ‘Report:’ in front of anything makes it so that if you’re wrong you can just retract it without hurting integrity. WEAK.

section731 says:Jul 14, 2011 9:00 AM

If they lose a week of preseason – season ticket holders win (at least half of them). One less crappy game that we have to pay full price for. Hold off for a little bit and save me that $85.

southcakpanther says:Jul 14, 2011 9:02 AM

Hey, you know what’s awesome guys? I make the final payment on my season tickets tomorrow and my parking pass is paid for! So at least the Panthers have my money in case this season doesn’t start. Knowing this makes me sleep so much better at night.

Everybody loses? I don’t think so. I hope they don’t settle through the first two preseason games. We have to pay the same for those ridiculous excuses for games in August as we do for playoff clinching games in December. So we the fans win if they don’t play two horrible preseason games where the starters don’t even break a sweat and we can save $150+ with tickets, parking etc.

mayfieldroadboy says:Jul 14, 2011 9:41 AM

The owners and players do not care. They will get their money because most of it comes from TV revenues which is paid by advertisers. We should watch every game on network TV and refuse to buy DirectTV or any other “premium” channels. We should pay close attention to the advertisers who fund these huge TV deals and refuse to buy their products.

Don’t buy NFL gear. If you are a football junkie and must go to a game, take public transportation to the stadiums…don’t use their parking lots and don’t use the concession stands, just stop at a “mom & pop” restaurant on your way to and/or from the game.

We all could start saving our money, and keeping it out of the pockets of the NFL. It’s extremely hard to shrink a 9 billion dollar pie, but if just 1/3 of the fans in each NFL city would try a little “tough love” and pocket their own monies, the NFL’s income could drop by a near-billion. And that is the strongest weapon of all.